Monarchs and Milkweed

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We always let a few milkweed plants continue to grow around the house so that we get the chance to watch these caterpillars. We find it fascinating to see how much they eat and how fast they grow. It won’t be long until this one finds a sturdy twig, begins pupation and forms its chrysalis.

After about two weeks, a Monarch butterfly will emerge, and we will enjoy two to eight weeks of its delicate beauty.

Among the websites containing information about Monarch butterflies, there is a great one here for kids that contains coloring pages, puzzles, etc.

More Coop Competition

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Just minutes before this picture was taken, Samson was nowhere to be found. There was however a large shadow moving inside the guinea coop. Yes, this large dog had gone inside that small door. He made what was apparently an inspection tour and somehow came back out that small door.

The guineas were not home during this visit, but soon came back from their bug hunting to give Samson a somewhat noisy lecture about basic etiquette and manners.

Samson was appropriately apologetic.

The Lambs Formerly Known As…

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Recently Rosemary and Ginger (the lambs formerly known as Princess and Cinderella) made a trip to the county seat to participate in their first ‘Weigh-In’ and Livestock Show at the fairgrounds.

Here is our guest blogger, Lena, to share a little bit about this experience.
I had a lot of fun, but it is not all fun and games in the show ring. First I had to weigh my lambs. Rosemary was 71 lb and Ginger was 73 lb. I chose to show Rosemary because she had more muscle build up. They had two types of classes, the judging of the sheep and the judging of how well you show your lamb (showmanship).
This picture is during the first class which was judging of the sheep.
I am the one in the red shirt, right in the middle of the class
(which is a good place to be right now).
This is picture is during the judging of how well
you show your sheep (showmanship).
This is Rosemary and Ginger waiting outside the show ring.
In judging of the lamb you have to line them up with their side to each other and a little room between them so the judge can get through. He/she will examine them, then when he/she tells you to, you have to walk them in around the ring to the other side then stop and stay right where you are at. He/she will come around to look at them again . Then he/she will start place them in the order he wants them to be in. In judging of the lamb I got 4th place which is a good place to be right now because that means that my sheep doesn’t have too much fat and that she needs to build up more muscle by the show/sale in September.
When you do showmanship you have to do certain things so that you can be a good sheep shower. First you have to keep a tight hold on its head. If you are using a halter (those yellow things that are around my sheep’s heads) make sure they are not dragging on the ground. You have to pay attention to the judge because you are supposed to stay on the opposite side of sheep than the judge. That means that if the judge is on the right side of your sheep you need to be on the left side of your sheep looking at the judge smiling. You also need to make sure that your sheep’s feet are in a rectangle like shape. In showmanship I got 7th place and that means I need to do a better job at showing my sheep.
This was my first show so I still have a lot to learn about showing sheep.

Bearing Fruit

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Raven and I took a walk down by the gas well to check on some of the fruit trees, and while the apples and peaches are coming along nicely, there aren’t any plums hanging on… a bit of a disappointment. As we were walking down the hill, we noticed that someone else was also checking the on the fruit.

Raven gave her ‘a bit of knowing what’s what’ and she meandered across the road and down over the hill to check out what might be available at our neighbor, Learlean’s. If we expect to beat this girl, we are going to have to watch the fruit progress very closely.

Hot! Hot! HOT!

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Just like the rest of the Eastern U.S., it has been hot! Up here, high on top of our mountain ridge, we rarely see so many hot (90+), humid days in a row. It was so humid during one of our hay-making days that the in-home weather station reported that it was raining outside.
All of us, animals included, have been seeking the shade and trying to catch any breeze we can. The sheep do very little grazing during the day. It is just too darn hot. It finally rained a little bit yesterday, our first rain in July. We are grateful that it has cooled off some this morning, but hoping there is more relief in sight. We need rain, and the heat has been very stressful for the animals.

One Thousand Two Hundred Sixy-Eight

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First cutting of hay is almost done. Just a small field behind the old barn left to do. Our hay bale count is up to 1,268. All that June rain (over 9 inches) produced substantially more hay than last year. We also set-up some temporary fencing last summer and pastured the sheep through some of the hayfields. Looks like that will be a good practice to continue.
Many, many thanks to all the field hands, the barn crew and Mom and the girls that fed us at the end of each day!!